Marginal Player: The Hunters and Sweden in the Age of Modern Media Wars

In the autumn of 1993 the subject of free trade in visual media was brought into the public eye as never before, at least within the European Union. The occasion was of course the much publicised near breakdown in the ongoing GATT-negotiations. The crux seemed to be that the US and the EU was unable to come to terms whereas films and television programmes was to be seen as manufactured goods which could be traded freely or as artefacts, produced by artists and culturally produced national whose production and existence should be protected by quotas and tariffs. As the talks came to an end, the parts eventually decided to lift the issue out of the agreement. There was an agreement to disagree, so to speak. Accordlingly no settlement is in... (More)

In the autumn of 1993 the subject of free trade in visual media was brought into the public eye as never before, at least within the European Union. The occasion was of course the much publicised near breakdown in the ongoing GATT-negotiations. The crux seemed to be that the US and the EU was unable to come to terms whereas films and television programmes was to be seen as manufactured goods which could be traded freely or as artefacts, produced by artists and culturally produced national whose production and existence should be protected by quotas and tariffs. As the talks came to an end, the parts eventually decided to lift the issue out of the agreement. There was an agreement to disagree, so to speak. Accordlingly no settlement is in place governing the very significant trade of these particular "goods" as of now.

Recently this state of affairs, as well as the troubled condition for the European Cinema as a whole, has been much discussed, notably in Martin Dale’s The Movie Game: The Film Business in Britain, Europe and America (1997), in Angus Finney’s The State of European Cinema: A New Dose of Reality (1996) and David Puttnam’s The Undeclared War: The Struggle for Control of the World’s Film Industry (1997). But although the books are informative and perceptive, the perspective is very much limited to the EU as a whole or to that of its leading members Britain, France and Germany. Very little is said about the consequenses for smaller countries within the Union.

In my paper, tentatively called "Marginal Player: Sweden in the Age of Modern Media Wars", I will attempt to discuss some of the consequenses - due to the stiffening competition and international disagreements in the field - particular to smaller countries in Europe like, for example, my native Sweden. Areas like TV-quotas, film subsidies, the lack of able producers and the governments belief that a predominantly national culture can be upheld through metods vastly different from those employed by the international media giants will be touched upon. Hopefully, I will be able to shred some new light on a subject which finally has started to be seriously discussed but in which all areas still has not been mapped. (Less)

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abstract = {In the autumn of 1993 the subject of free trade in visual media was brought into the public eye as never before, at least within the European Union. The occasion was of course the much publicised near breakdown in the ongoing GATT-negotiations. The crux seemed to be that the US and the EU was unable to come to terms whereas films and television programmes was to be seen as manufactured goods which could be traded freely or as artefacts, produced by artists and culturally produced national whose production and existence should be protected by quotas and tariffs. As the talks came to an end, the parts eventually decided to lift the issue out of the agreement. There was an agreement to disagree, so to speak. Accordlingly no settlement is in place governing the very significant trade of these particular "goods" as of now.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
Recently this state of affairs, as well as the troubled condition for the European Cinema as a whole, has been much discussed, notably in Martin Dale’s The Movie Game: The Film Business in Britain, Europe and America (1997), in Angus Finney’s The State of European Cinema: A New Dose of Reality (1996) and David Puttnam’s The Undeclared War: The Struggle for Control of the World’s Film Industry (1997). But although the books are informative and perceptive, the perspective is very much limited to the EU as a whole or to that of its leading members Britain, France and Germany. Very little is said about the consequenses for smaller countries within the Union. <br/><br>
<br/><br>
In my paper, tentatively called "Marginal Player: Sweden in the Age of Modern Media Wars", I will attempt to discuss some of the consequenses - due to the stiffening competition and international disagreements in the field - particular to smaller countries in Europe like, for example, my native Sweden. Areas like TV-quotas, film subsidies, the lack of able producers and the governments belief that a predominantly national culture can be upheld through metods vastly different from those employed by the international media giants will be touched upon. Hopefully, I will be able to shred some new light on a subject which finally has started to be seriously discussed but in which all areas still has not been mapped.},
author = {Hedling, Olof},
keyword = {Gatt,national culture,media war},
language = {eng},
location = {University of California, San Diego, Hyatt Hotel, La Jolla},
title = {Marginal Player: The Hunters and Sweden in the Age of Modern Media Wars},
year = {1998},
}